Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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"Dude! What's El's problem?"

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Mike wish he had an answer for that but he honestly had no idea.

He just watched in confusement as his girlfriend stormed off from the table with Max hot on her trail. At first he had gotten up from his chair to follow her but before he could, Max immediately told him him to sit back down, saying that this was a girl thing and she’d handle it.

The thing was, El had been acting strange all day.

He knew she was still adjusting to school. After all, this was only her third month here but still even then El usually told him if something was bothering her.

Like last month when she was worried about falling behind in algebra. He had eased her mind by offering to tutor her over the weekends (her grade improved by the way) and even last week when she was insanely nervous to make that presentation for class. He reassured her, reminding her that if she could face monsters from other dimensions than she could definitely face the annoying kids from their grade, no problem. ( and she did great)

But today was different.

It all started when she didn’t meet this morning at their usual spot by his locker. They’d started meeting there ever since her first day of school. It was initially the place for her to find him in case she couldn’t find a class or if she had a question about her schedule or something, but now it just became their morning routine, a place to say their hellos and occasionally steal kisses when they were sure no teacher was nearby.

He had waited there for awhile now. As time ticked by, he grew impatient, using his height as an advantage to peek over the sea of students in search for the familiar head of soft curls. But to his dismay, he couldn’t find her anywhere and once the first period bell rang he assumed she hadn’t even come to school. But she never mentioned that she wouldn't be at school today? wait.. Did she? His string of thoughts were interrupted when he finally spotted her at the very end of the hall. But before he could even begin to catch up with her, she had disappeared into her first class of the day.

Well, that was weird?

He shrugged it off though, noting that he would just ask her about it in English. It was the only class they shared together, and he always looked forward to it. However, as his third period class with El rolled around not only had she snuck into the class late but she also didn’t bother to sit in the seat he always saved for her. He caught her gaze and she hesitantly waved, doing her best to force a smile while she moved past him opting for a desk in the very back of the classroom instead.

He looked back at her dumbfounded but she didn’t bother to make eye contact with him, instead she leaned back against her chair with her arms crossed and her brows furrowed as though she was frustrated by something or someone.

What if.. maybe it was him?

Oh shit, what did he do?

His mind spurred in a frenzy replaying every conversation they had yesterday, desperate to remember if he had said or done something stupid. But he couldn’t recall anything. everything was fine.

She was talking and joking with him in English as they worked on their group project and other than the fact their teacher kept glaring their way, class went well. And at lunch she couldn’t stop laughing (By far his favorite sound ever) especially when Dustin shot strawberry milk out his nose and Max almost punched him for accidentally spraying it on her. He also biked her home like he usually did after school and there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was a nice ride home that they spent talking about how their day went and he even got to kiss her goodbye.

Wow and was that kiss amazing..

He bit his lip, forcing down the blush that was rising on his face at the very thought. It could be that he was just overthinking. He was definitely the world’s worst, especially when it came to El.

But just needed to relax, pfft, there was no way she could be upset at him.

He hadn’t done anything wrong..

right?

When lunch finally came, he sat at his usual place at the “nerd” table with his friends. The lunch room was for sure divided into a hierarchy of some sort. Where you sat at lunch was all arranged by your status and likeability.

The table order and rank went from most popular to least. (1) the cheerleaders and jocks (2) the rich kids (3) the badass cool kids (4) the harvard/stanford preps, (5) the theatre kids (6) the nerds (hence them) (7) the band geeks (8) the future dropouts, and (9) the creeps and weirdos.

At least they weren’t the last ones on the totem pole.

He tuned in and out as the party talked about Back to the Future for probably the thousandth time since they saw it last week, nervously picking at his orange as his thoughts began to consume him once again when he noticed she wasn’t here yet. ( what if she was avoiding him? Or she doesn’t like him anymore? What if she wants to break up? Shit, shit, shit.)

But just like that his worries subsided when he suddenly saw El walking to their table along with her redheaded best friend. He was further relieved when she actually sat next to him this time. Her presence bringing a familiar warmth and comfort he definitely had missed.

But once El sat down, she hadn’t really said anything to him. Instead, keeping her gaze ahead as she opened up her lunchbox and grabbed out her turkey sandwich and chips.

He couldn't take it anymore. He had to do something.

Mike gently tapped her shoulder. “Hey El, is um everything-

“Please don’t” She quickly cut him off. Her tired hazel eyes meeting his for the first time all day. “And before you ask, no you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just not in the mood right now okay? We’ll talk later.” she loudly whispered.

He didn’t dare say anything else, knowing all too well that she meant business. However, he couldn’t help but think he still had something to do with whatever was going on with her. Mike stared down at his food suddenly not having much of an appetite as his thoughts were getting the better of him. Damn, what was going on?

Not only did El not really talk to him but she also didn’t talk much at lunch either. Yeah, she was usually quiet anyways, the only person in the party who was more quiet was Will. But still she was never this quiet.

It was odd. Especially since she would often engage in the group’s conversations about D&D or joke with Max about their weird history teacher, but for some reason not today. And other than Mike, funny enough Will was probably the only other one who even noticed. Even going as far to politely whisper to him and ask if she was okay.

But the dark haired boy just shrugged. Honestly, he was as clueless as Will.

“Just wait till we get to the arcade after school Lucas. Swear you can kiss your top score in Galaga goodbye!”

“No man, we’re going to The Hawk. Need I remind you that on Wednesdays movies are half price. Back to the Future round two baby!”

Dustin shook his head, his wild curls bouncing from underneath his ball cap. “Dude we have to go to the arcade! It’s been two weeks and I am dig dug deprived. Also I only have quarters anyways.” he replied, jiggling his pocket.

“Well, good thing tickets are half off, maybe they’ll accept your dumb ass coins as payment.”

“I’m gonna go with Dustin on this one. We already saw Back to the Future last week, so I’m up for the arcade.” Will interrupted, his soft voice gently chiming in.

Dustin slapped the small boy a high five. “Hell yes! Majority vote!”

“Nope. ” Max cut in. “I cast my vote for the movies.”

Lucas proudly grinned. “Yeah, eat shit Dustin.”

Dustin rolled his eyes.”Yeah of course, Maxine would agree with you.” he huffed.

“Call me Maxine one more time and your ass is grass Henderson.” The redhead glared, shaking a clenched fist.

“So that’s two votes for the movies and two for the arcade.” Will mentioned. “Guess it’s up to Mike and El now.”

The freckle faced teen broke out of his thoughts upon hearing his name. “Wait what?”

“Earth to Mike!” Lucas waved a hand in his face. “Arcade or movies today after school?” he asked. “And I swear if you pick-

“Um, arcade.”

Lucas and Max loudly groaned as Dustin and Will cheered, slapping each other more high fives.

“HA! That’s three to two!”

Lucas glared at Dustin. “Don’t get your hopes up just yet, there’s still one more vote. El, what do you choose?”

The girl who had been quiet all lunch simply just shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.” she muttered.

“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?!” Dustin gasped. “You gotta choose, the fate of the party rests in your hands!”

El looked back down at her now empty bag of chips. “Whatever you guys want.” she mumbled with a hint of irritation rising in her voice.

“No, that’s not how party votes work. It’s a democracy, so that means you gotta choose!” Lucas stated, pointing at her.

“I DON'T CARE! I’m not gonna hang out anyways. So could you all just shut the hell up!” El snapped while slamming her lunch box shut. But before anybody could say a word she sprung out of her chair so fast, that if you blinked for even a millisecond you would’ve missed it.

Everyone just stared at each other in shock and disbelief, trying their best to process what had just happened.

Well, aside from Max who had already left the lunchroom with El and also aside from Mike who was still debating on whether he should stay where he was or go follow them.

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“I feel terrible.” El groaned as she splashed her face with cold water from the sink. “Does it always feel like this?”

“Sometimes, but not always.” Max shrugged, leaning against the wall of the girl’s bathroom. “It depends though. There are some days when it’s moderately shitty and there are other days when it’s severely shitty. Regardless, you can rest assured that it will always be shitty.” she chuckled, her laugh echoing through the empty stalls.

“I can’t believe I yelled at them like that. I didn’t mean to, they were just talking so much and my head was pounding and it was like-

“You couldn’t help it?”

El nodded as she grabbed a paper towel to wipe her face.

“Yup, mood swings can be a real bitch during.” Max added. “But hey, in your defense they were kind of annoying. I mean if it wasn’t for you, I would’ve probably been the one yelling at them to shut up.”

The brunette’s face softened at her friends words, but then quickly faltered. “Oh no, Mike.” she groaned, guiltily rubbing her arm. “He probably thinks he did something wrong. I haven’t really talked to him all day.”

“I’m sure lover boy will understand.” Max scoffed. “Well as much as a boy can anyways.” she flippantly waved her hand.

El turned around to face her friend with a look of hesitation. “It’s not as easy to talk about it with him as it is with you. Last night when it first happened, I called Joyce first and then you. But I didn’t even want to tell Mike. I usually tell him everything but it’s just.. you understand this and he doesn’t. It’s um- she struggled to find the right word to say, while anxiously playing with the hem of her shirt.

“It’s awkward.” Max completed for her. “I get what you mean. I haven’t told Lucas anything either, for all he knows I just randomly get bad stomach aches every month.” she then put an assuring hand on El’s shoulder. “But to be honest, I’m actually kinda glad I have someone I can talk with this about too.”

El warmly smiled. Her friends words had resonated with her in a new way and further strengthened the growing bond between them. Yeah, sure, they didn’t get off to the best start when they first met but now it was almost as if Max was her closest friend. (Well aside, from Mike, but that was completely different.)

“As much as I would love to skip class today.” Max glanced down at her watch. “I kinda have a test next period that I can’t miss. So I really should get going. But you’re okay though right? If you need any more of the goods, I think I got some extra in my backpack.”

“No, I’m fine. Let’s go. I don’t wanna be late either.”

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“Wait, where’s El?”

After lunch was over, there was just one last class to go and he knew that afterwards he’d finally be able to talk to her.

Mike had anxiously been waiting since then and it felt as though time was against him as the clock in his biology class creeped slower than he swore it had ever before.

But after that final bell rang, he quickly darted to his locker and grabbed his belongings. Only to rush out to the bike rack and see that she wasn’t even there.

“You just missed her. Hop came to pick her up.” Max mentioned, stepping onto her skateboard.

He grabbed her arm, stopping her before she could skate off. “Is El okay?” he asked, concern prevalent in his voice.

Max eyed him strangely, prying his hand from her arm. “She will be.”

“Yo! Come on! The arcade is calling!” Dustin called from the bike rack, waving them over.

“Don’t listen to him guys. We’re headed to the movies!” Lucas yelled over him.

But before an eager Max could leave, Mike stopped her again. “Is she mad at me? If she is, can you please tell me what I did. I promise I’ll make it up to her.”

“Wow, you worry too much.” The redhead rolled her eyes. “You didn’t do anything though.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

Max huffed impatiently. “She wasn’t feeling good, alright? Cool, I’m so glad we had this talk.” She rushed, hopping back on her board.

Mike purposely stood right in front of her. His tree like build blocking her completely. “The truth Mayfield.” he chided.

Max grimaced, knowing she really didn’t want to put El’s personal business out there but also knowing she didn’t really have much of a choice. Especially when her friend’s boyfriend was being so damn pushy. “Fine, but don’t tell her I told you, got it? She’s already embarrassed as it is.”

He nodded.

Max looked around as though she was afraid someone would overhear them. “She got her monthly visitor.” she whispered.

Mike’s face contorted. “Who visited her?”

“You know..” She nudged him. “Aunt flow.”

“Wait, I didn’t know she had an aunt named Flo?”

“No you idiot!” Max slapped her forehead with her palm. "Ugh, let me see, how can I put this..” she mumbled before a confident smile quirked her lips upon figuring it out. “Shark week..? code red? mother nature?”

Mike stared at her blankly, still as lost as ever.

“Oh my god! Are boys really that stupid?” Max complained, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Her period, Mike! She started her period!”

. “O-Oh!” Mike choked on air.

“Geez, you'd think I needed to get a damn plane to spell it out for you in the sky or something.” Max grumbled under her breath. “So NOW do you understand why she was avoiding you and being all moody?” she pointedly emphasized. “It wasn’t you, it’s just being a girl isn’t always unicorns and rainbows.”

His face flushed bright red. “I-um. I see. Err, thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah-Yeah. Don’t mention it. So now can we go?” Max pleaded, pointing ahead. “The dorks are over there still arguing about this whole arcade and movie shit and we better break it up and figure things out before it gets too late.”

“Actually…” Mike thoughtfully scratched the back of his head. “Count my vote out. I’ve got something else to do.” He rushed, as he ran over to the bike rack

Max smiled, knowing all too well what his plans were.

“Hold up! Mike! Where do you think you’re going!” Dustin yelled as his friend blatantly ignored him, speeding off in the distance.”Damn it, you were my winning vote!”

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El sat in front of the T.V. clinging to her blanket as she watched her favorite soap. It seemed as though every five minutes she’d take the sleeve of her sweater (Well Mike’s, but technically it was hers now) and wipe away the tears that kept pooling in her eyes.

This show didn’t usually make her cry. Well except for last season’s finale, but that was warranted especially when the presumed dead Ricardo finally returned home from the war to a grieving Isabella. You’d have to be emotionally dead or something not to at least tear up a little.

But aside from that, no she never cried so easily. Ugh, hormones.

After taking some meds recommended by Joyce and finally get much needed rest, she was feeling a little better. Even though, she still felt like shit, she could only hope the second day wouldn’t be nearly as bad.

An abrupt knock at the cabin door startled her and she could hear from her room as an annoyed Hopper went to answer it.

“That Wheeler kid is here!” He called out and before he could say anything else, El was already practically there.

“Hey.”

She really wasn’t expecting to see him, especially after what happened today. But she was relieved and even happy now that he was here. His dark eyes, black hair and those splattered freckles, still making him in her opinion, the prettiest boy she’d ever seen.

“Hey, El.”

“Well I guess i’ll leave you to it.” Hop huffed. “But remember, I’m watching you kid.” he said sternly, glancing once more at the lanky boy in the door before he walked off.

Mike stood there, awkwardly balancing on the balls of his feet, wondering how he’d proceed with this conversation. Then he remembered. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot.” he said, fumbling in his backpack for a minute until he found what he was searching for. “I got you something!” he exclaimed, offering it to her.

She slowly opened up the grocery bag, a wide grin growing on her face after finding an all too familiar yellow box inside. “Eggos!” she yelled excitedly, But she also saw something else. "And chocolate?"

"Yeah.. I guess I just wanted to help." Mike nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "But if you don't like it then-oof

He was caught off guard as she almost knocked, tackling and pulling him into a tight hug. “Thanks Mike. It means a lot.” she mumbled in his sweater while she blinked back tears. Damn hormones.

He broke out of his daze as El pulled back from their embrace. “Uh, you're.. you’re welcome.” he stuttered dreamily.

El’s smile faded recalling the events from earlier. “I’m really sorry about today. I didn’t mean to." she looked down at the ground, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. “It’s just um.. hard growing up.”

“It’s okay.” Mike reassured her. “Hey, do you remember that one day when my voice kept cracking while we were playing D&D, and the whole party couldn’t stop laughing?”

El nodded, softly chucking to herself at the memory.

“Well, it was pretty embarrassing, especially when I was trying to cast that one protection spell, but instead made a fool of myself when my voice broke mid-sentence.” Mike shook his head as if trying to forget.

He then let out a deep sigh. “But I guess I’m telling you that to say this, I get it El. Growing up sucks. It’s weird, annoying, and uncomfortable. but no matter what, even through the bad days, I’ll always be here for you.”

“Promise?” she asked, suddenly it was like he was a magnet and she couldn’t help but pull closer to him.

Mike leaned down to bridge the gap between them. ”Promise.” He whispered, his breath ghosting across her lips. He then gazed once more into her beautiful hazel eyes, before capturing her soft lips in his own.

“REMEMBER, I'M WATCHING YOU!” Hop barked, immediately causing the two teens to jolt a part, both of them sharing the same flustered expression.

“And geez El, could you invite him in already? All the heat along with my money, is just blowing out the front door.”

El blushed at her dad’s words but then she smiled back at Mike, grabbing his hand in her own and leading him inside.

Chapter Text

The cool autumn breeze caused El to tug her jacket closer to her chest while she anxiously sat with the rest of the party at an outside table in their school's courtyard.

It was early enough that the sun just now made its appearance, masking the sky in a haze of orange and pink. The school was still practically empty and if it weren't for the few students meeting for early morning clubs, their group of five would've been the only ones there.

"So now will you tell me what happened?" El asked impatiently, confusion and concern mixing in her voice.

It was like she had missed one day and suddenly things had turned upside down (no pun intended..)

Yesterday, she had battled a head cold that left her at home all day in bed. Hop told her it would be best for her to sleep it off, and that she did. However, it was rather weird when Mike hadn't shown up at her house that afternoon, especially since he said he'd stop by to check on her. But she didn't really give it much thought, having practically slept most of the day anyway.

She woke up this morning to a few strange voicemails on her answering machine. One being from Max who sounded kind of panicked, telling El to call her back as soon as possible. The other being from Dustin who issued a code red, stating that it was urgent. The last one seeming to be from Lucas, Dustin, Max, and Will all nervously rambling over themselves, begging her to meet up with them before school started.

And now here she was and it felt like she had been gone for a week or something.

"You know Bryce? That meathead jock who's good at football, but pretty stupid otherwise?"

"Yes..?"

"So get this! Apparently yesterday during gym he kept bullying this poor freshman kid and Mike couldn't take it anymore and decided to do something about it. He then throws the first punch and before you know it, they get into a full on brawl!"

El's mouth fell, completely baffled as she paused just to take that information in. "You saw this?" her face scrunched, as though she was trying to piece the scenario together.

She just couldn't wrap her mind around the fight at all. Maybe it was simply because Michael Wheeler was never one to get into a fight. Never. The most "fights" (if you classify them as that) he had been in were during middle school. One of them being with Lucas in the junkyard and the other one that time he pushed Troy during the assembly for Will, but even those really didn't classify as fights per-say.

And for him to just throw himself into a fight like that, even if he had good reasons.. just didn't make much sense to her. Don't get her wrong, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Mike was beyond loyal and he stood up for his friends no matter what. (It was definitely one of her favorite things about him.) but to stand up like that for someone he didn't know well and who wasn't even a part of the party.. Well, just wasn't quite adding up.

"Uh, well no." Lucas mumbled, his eagerness deflating.

"But…" Dustin cut in, grabbing his friend's shoulder. "We have reliable witnesses."

"Yeah, if you can count the 6th period gym class as reliable.." Max rolled her eyes. She then turned her attention to the girl sitting across from her. "None of us saw the fight that went down between Mike and Bryce and those who did see it all have some different shitty story, so who knows what to believe."

Will nodded in agreement. "She's right, because I completely heard something else."

"What?" they chorused.

"I heard that Bryce threw the first punch because he accused Mike for trying to hit on Shelby during their tutoring session."

Mike was always ahead of the game when it came to preparing for his future. He was only a sophomore but yet still wanted some other extracurriculars apart from A.V. club. that he could put on his future college applications.

After the principal had suggested tutoring (to El's dismay) he started to incorporate that into his weekends. The only reason she didn't particularly like it was because it cut away time from their usual weekend hangouts, but regardless she understood and he always made it up to her anyways.

But El recalled him briefly telling her about tutoring Shelby.

Shelby was Bryce's girlfriend and they definitely had the typical on and off again jock and cheerleader relationship. Mike had mentioned to El earlier that he thought Shelby was an arrogant airhead and he had no idea how she was gonna pass math class let alone tenth grade.

This whole scenario didn't seem as far fetched. She knew that Mike would do his best to defend himself especially if someone like Bryce tried to fight him based off of false accusations. But for some reason this still didn't settle with her. There just had to be more to the story.

"Even if that was what happened, don't read too much into it." Max flippantly waved off, reassuring her friend. "Bryce is the type of douche bag to make up a reason to fight just for the hell of it."

She then looked over at her El and smirked. "But last I saw him, couldn't help but notice that he sure does have a nice shiner. Hmm, guess Wheeler isn't as wimpy as we thought." she teasingly elbowed her in the side.

"No way!" Dustin butted in, a toothy smile stretching across his face. "Mike actually got a punch in?"

Lucas shared a similar expression while he turned and eyed Max expectantly. "Whoa! really?"

"Yeah, I saw Bryce sitting outside Principal Craig's office and lo and behold he had a huge purple bruiser. Crazy right?"

"Who knew Mike.. our dorky, lanky, no hand eye coordination paladin even had it in him.." Dustin chuckled, wiping a pretend tear from his eye. "They just grow up so fast."

While El tried to still wrap her mind on the whole thing the others continued to talk amongst themselves, sharing their surprised disbelief that maybe Mike hadn't totally got his ass handed to him (well at least not going down without a fight) while also doing their best to sort through the rumors and get to the truth of what really happened.

But honestly she couldn't care less about what happened or why. All she was really worried about at this moment was one thing.

"What about Mike, is he okay? She suddenly blurted, causing the others to stop talking. "Where is he?"

The party glanced between each other, hoping that the other person would have the answers.

Will broke the silence, giving El a sincere look. "We actually haven't seen Mike since lunch yesterday but that was before the whole fight even happened. We even went to his house after school, but his mom answered the door and told us that he needed to rest and sent us on our way."

"But we can tell you for a fact that he won't be at school today. He sure as hell probably got suspended or something." Lucas shrugged.

After hearing those last words, El immediately swung her back pack over her shoulder but before she could get up from the table Max stopped her.

"I know what you're trying to do. But El, there's no way you can miss class. We have our history final today!"

"It doesn't matter."

Max looked her in the eye. "Look I know you're all in overly protective psycho girlfriend mode or whatever. But think about it, okay. Really think about it. This final is worth 30 percent of our grade in that class and you and I both know you can't afford to fail this. So all I'm saying, is sure you can go see Mike now but will it really be worth it when you can't see him come graduation?"

She hated that Max had such a good point. It wasn't like she had the best grade in that class anyways. She was honestly still struggling to catch up with the others and history for some reason had been kicking her ass. She had to pass that class though if she hoped to make it to junior year.

Ugh… but Mike. She just had to see him. No, she needed to. She needed to know if he was okay. The idea of him being hurt in any way, just made her feel sick to her stomach.

She hesitated momentarily, thinking of all her possible options and it wasn't long before an old familiar word came to mind..

Compromise.

"Fine. I'll go, but after history, I'm going to see him."

Max huffed under her breath, but didn't protest. Instead grabbing her things as the warning bell sounded, a reminder that they had ten minutes to get to their first class. "Come on then."

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As El walked into Hawkins High, she suddenly felt everyone's eyes on her. This was even worse than the very first day she walked in here as the new girl (and you better believe that being the new adopted kid with the mysterious past nobody knew about was tough.) It was as if almost everyone, regardless of social status (cheerleaders, geeks, druggies, etc) were looking at her and whispering among themselves as she walked by.

The unusual amount of attention made her really uneasy and Max must've noticed because aside from flipping them off, she reached out to still El's shaking arm.

"Ignore them." The redhead whispered. "Apparently the fight is still big news and they're probably just throwing you into their stupid rumor mill."

It was like everything was overwhelming her, the fight, the whispers, the stares. Mike wasn't even here to help her through it, in fact, he was probably in pain at the moment and there was nothing she could do about it.

And suddenly El couldn't breathe. So she did the only thing she could do right then and darted ahead of Max straight into the girl's restroom.

There she found an empty stall and just sat on the toilet seat cover doing her best to gain her composure. Her face fell in her hands as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath for the first time that day.

This wasn't the first time this had happened. Even after escaping the lab a few years back, El still battled with anxiety. It wasn't as bad as it used to be, especially now that Mike was helping her through it. But still some days she felt that wave crash over her again and she just needed to escape. But when you're in a school filled with tons of other people sadly, there's only so many places you can go.

Her eyes shot open as soon as she heard the bathroom door swing wide. At first she thought it might be Max but was proven wrong upon hearing a bunch of high-pitched chattery voices. Out of curiosity she peeked through the tiny sliver in the bathroom stall.

"So get this, I heard that the Wheeler kid's girlfriend broke up with him for Bryce and that's really why they got into it yesterday."

El recognized this voice. It was none other than Kelly Avery. The popular preppy girl with the beautifully long blonde feathered hair who invested way more time into the gossip at this school than anything else. Max literally hated her guts, especially after that one rumor she spread about her being a lesbian but that eventually fizzled out last year when Lucas and Max officially became a couple.

But what was she talking about? Breaking up was not even a phrase in El and Mike's vocabulary. It was something she never even thought of especially knowing that her and Mike were gonna always be together, so where on earth did Kelly even get that from?

"Wait who's his girlfriend? Or ex I guess I should say." Tonya asked, checking her makeup in the mirror. She was Kelly's right hand, and you hardly ever saw the two a part. Their mission, aside from gathering the dirt on everyone at their school was to also win every student government and homecoming election possible.

"You know the chief's adopted daughter. I think her name is Jane or something." Kelly shrugged uncertain while she turned to the mirror and fluffed her hair. "She's a little weird, kinda quiet, and always hangs out with those nerds along with Mayfield."

"Oh her." Tonya replied rather unimpressed.

"Who knew those two would ever have trouble in paradise? I thought for sure they'd be that couple to run off and get hitched." Laurie added, as she filed her nails. She recently joined Kelly and Tonya, making the previous duo now a trio. She was a wannabe though and you could tell by the way she acted and dressed that she was their mini-me.

"Well guess little Janey finally decided she wants more than lame comic books and science fair ribbons." Kelly snickered. "Who could honestly blame her though?"

El felt her body tense up as anger flashed through her. She stilled herself though, gritting her teeth as she sat there, not wanting to make any rash decisions while also desperately reminding herself over and over that she couldn't use her powers in school, no matter how much she wanted to bust open the sink pipes right now and drench Kelly and her minions in water.

"True, but you have to admit that Michael is actually kinda attractive, like for a nerd I mean.."

Kelly looked over at Tonya in disgust. "Please, as if!"

"I actually agree with T on this." Laurie spoke in defense. "All I'm saying is that, if he exchanged those stupid sweaters for leather jackets, had cooler friends, and like played sports. I'm not gonna lie and say I wouldn't ride the Wheeler Wagon." she playfully winked at the others.

"You both are clearly deranged." Kelly rolled her eyes, shuddering. "But if you two are finally done discussing your little nerd fantasies then let's go, we have bigger fish to fry." and with one final glance at the mirror she turned on her heel and headed out, the other girls scrambling out the door behind her.

Aside from being further reminded that these girls were clearly a bunch of mouth breathers. (Of course her boyfriend is super attractive and it's no surprise that others think the same way but these "fantasies" as Kelly had put it, better be all they were because if they weren't her powers might not be as easy to restrain, just saying and for the record Laurie, she thinks his sweaters look super adorable, thank you very much.)

However, El could without a doubt dismiss this rumor as being far from the truth. They hadn't broken up and weren't even considering it. If anything, things had actually been amazing between her and Mike. She thought back to what Max had said earlier about everyone having a different story and now she could see that was definitely the case, but were any of them actually true?

Was anything anyone said about each other in high school.. true?

.

.

After ringing the doorbell, she stood on the porch trying to catch her breath. What would've been a simple ten minute bike ride to Mike's house turned into a thirty minute jog. (Yeah, she definitely needed a bike of her own.) However, she could tell by the empty driveway that Mike's parents weren't home. (She figured his dad was still at work and his mom off with Holly somewhere)

The door creaked open slowly. "El?" raised an all too familiar deep voice. Mike then opened the door fully, his face contorted in confusion. "Um, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked while leading her inside and closing the door behind them.

It was here in the light of the Wheeler's living room that she could examine him clearly. He had a few band aids on his face, one above his right brow and another on his chin. She could also see a new scab forming on his bottom lip along with a yellow bruise on his cheekbone. But aside from that, what she noticed the most was how tired he looked, almost like he hadn't slept all night.

"I was, but I came to see you." she replied, instinctively reaching out her hand to gently caress his face.

"Guess you heard." Mike embarrassedly turned his face away. "I'm fine though El. You really should've stayed in school. Don't you have a final today?" he asked, making his way towards the couch.

"I left after I finished it." El dismissed, seating herself beside him. "But what happened?" she inquired, concern lingering in her tone.

Her boyfriend leaned back against the couch, avoiding her gaze. "It was nothing okay? just a stupid fight."

El could tell it was more than nothing. She hadn't seen him this way since those times she had visited him in the void back before he even knew she was still alive. It was like his light diminished, instead replaced by a dark cloud. "Mike." she remarked definitively. "The truth."

"Where do I begin?" He hesitantly sat back up and instead of looking her in the eyes, he stared down at his folded hands, anxiously twiddling his thumbs. "Well, earlier this week my parents told me they were getting a divorce and I know I should've saw it coming and I kinda did.. But them telling me just made it that much more real, you know? and I'm sorry, I didn't tell you earlier but I was still trying to process it myself and I just didn't really wanna bother you with it."

El knew Mike's parents had a rocky marriage and an even rockier relationship with their children. Divorce was a term that was still new to her but after hearing it on one of her soaps, Hopper had been the one to explain it to her. He told her it happened when those who were married fell out of love.

She tried to imagine Mike's parents actually being in love in the first place. From what she had heard, it seemed like they decided to get married more out of convenience than out of love.

El still recalled the time Joyce let her look through her old Hawkins High yearbook. (She mainly just wanted to find and make fun of Hopper.) but she also saw Mike's mom as well. (Wow, Nancy looked just like her.) Then Joyce proceeded to tell her the story of how a fresh out of high school Karen met the twenty three year old white collared Ted Wheeler, who had a well paying office job and was already investing into buying his first house. Karen's parents were beyond delighted and encouraged their daughter to get married so her future could be set.

She wondered how two people could fall out of love, if maybe the real problem was that they weren't even in love in the first place?

"You wouldn't have bothered me." El calmly reassured him, holding his hand.

Mike gave her a small thankful smile, looking in her direction. He paused for a moment, and then his face fell. "So a few nights ago after the news of their divorce they got into this huge fight, and I wanted to talk to you about it the next day but you were home sick so I didn't even see you.. and I don't know, I was just really upset and angry and when I overhead Bryce talking shit about you I just couldn't control myself and it was like I let all my rage out on him." he rambled as his face tightened with tension at the memory.

At first El was very confused on why Bryce would say anything about her in the first place but then it hit her like a ton of bricks.

A few weeks back he had tried to ask her out. El didn't know why either especially when she clearly was dating Mike and even if she wasn't (which wouldn't be the case) She still would never go out with a guy like Bryce. Gross.

She assumed he had asked her out because he wanted to look good in front of his friends or "he just wanted to get in her pants" as Max had often told her.

Either way, she flat out rejected him in front of the whole football team and she knew that had pissed him off, especially since she made him look bad in front of all of his friends. But honestly she didn't care, even when he hurled a slew of insults at her and dared to chase after her in which she may or may not have made him trip and face plant right into the mud.

So, now the fight finally made sense.

Bryce was holding onto a grudge and Mike had just been pushed to his limit.

Geez, everyone at school was so wrong.

El turned to look into his deep dark eyes. She could see the pain and anger he was trying so hard to hide behind them and she felt like a rock plummeted into her gut. He didn't deserve this, any of this. He was the greatest person she had ever known and it tore her apart knowing he had felt this way. "I'm sorry Mike."

"Don't be, it's not your fault"

"No. I'm sorry." She repeated again, not once breaking eye contact. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this. It's not fair. You deserve to be happy."

Mike blinked back the tears that lined his eyes before they could fall. "But El, you make me happy." he softly smiled, lacing his fingers between hers.

El brought her free hand up to his face, and gently rubbed her thumb over his busted lip. She needed him to know that things were gonna be okay and that they would get through this together just like they always did and it was right then and there looking into those beautiful eyes that she knew their story would never end up like his parent's.

"I love you."

Mike was taken aback, gaping at the words he hadn't heard from her before. He stared at her for a second as though he was unsure of this was real. A warm smile then bloomed over his face, replacing his previous worries. "I love you too.. so much." he breathed, as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

She laid her head on his shoulder while he held her, and there they sat together in the stillness of his living room.

She didn't know what was to come the day when the divorce with his parents would be finalized. She didn't know how things would be like for Mike when he returned and whether or not their issues with Bryce were actually over. She also didn't know what the rest of high school would entail for them.

But one thing El did know,

She would never fall out of love with Michael Wheeler.

Chapter Text

"Psssh Jane"

Her amber eyes darted away from the teacher and over to her left where she could see the rapid motion of long blonde hair swish as Jennifer Hayes spun around in her seat.

But before she could even say anything, the preppy cheerleader slid a folded neon yellow paper over onto her desk.

El scrunched her face in confusement. She had shared this class with Jennifer since school started and the girl had barely even acknowledged her. She could probably even count on one hand the amount of times they had even exchanged words, and now she was passing notes? What?

El slowly opened the folded paper under her desk, her eyes glancing up one last time, wary not to draw attention from their teacher.

"Party at Jennifer's this Friday at 8! Be there or be square bitches!"

Her forehead wrinkled slightly as she finished reading the flyer. "You're inviting me to your party?" she whispered turning her attention back to the cheerleader.

"Obviously." Jennifer rolled her eyes. "But trust me you'll wanna be there, it's gonna be the biggest party of the year." she mentioned as her pink glossy lips turned into a coy smile.

"Can Mike come too?"

"Yeah, sure. Bring whoever you want." The girl waved her off as she turned back around in her seat. "As long as they're not complete losers or anything I don't see why not."

El smiled to herself as she folded the yellow flyer back and put it into her pocket. She had to admit she was actually kind of excited. Especially since the last party she went to was for Dustin's birthday and she remembered how much fun that was.

Steve had attempted to barbecue and even though he almost caught the grill on fire, the hamburgers were still somewhat edible. Lucas had purposely smashed Dustin's face into the cake and the curly haired boy got his revenge when he pulled out a huge bucket of water balloons. The whole party ran around the yard, laughing, and throwing water balloons at each other until the late summer sun set. After they had dried off, they all went inside Dustin's house and watched movies well into the night.

And Jennifer said her party was gonna be the biggest of the year?

Wow. El couldn't wait.

.

.

.

"So you're saying you got invited to Jennifer Hayes party?!" Dustin practically yelled across their lunch table now more intrigued in the group's conversation than before.

The brunette nodded with a smile.

"THE Jennifer Hayes..?" He asked incredulously. "We are talking about the girl who is captain of the cheer-leading team right?

"Yes."

"The girl who was the first freshman ever to win homecoming queen?" Lucas added, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Uh.. I think?"

"The girl who could potentially ruin our reputations for the rest of our highs-school career if she really wanted to?!" Dustin's hands flew up quickly, barely able to contain his excitement.

Max couldn't help but scoff. "Please.. what reputations?"

Unfazed by the quip, Dustin eagerly proceeded "The girl who-

But he was quickly cut off as El shoved the flyer in his face to prove her point.

"No way! He exclaimed, his eyes reading it over greedily. "I can't believe it.." his mouth dropped. "you actually scored an invite."

"What the hell! why would she invite you?" Lucas asked as he snatched the flyer from Dustin's hands.

Max jabbed him in the side allowing him to catch his mistake. "I mean no offense El," he guiltily muttered. "but it's not like you're any cooler than the rest of us or anything."

"Well she kinda is.. by default." Will joined as he curiously glanced over the invitation. "Mike and El are still talked about because of that whole fight thing with Bryce remember?"

Will did have a point.

Even though Mike and El were not even near popular, they definitely had leeway that they hadn't had before. The kids from their grade held some respect for the couple and if it wasn't for them hanging out with the rest of the party, they might have even been bumped up in social status, but honestly that didn't even matter to them.

"Speaking of the devil, there he is!" Dustin toothily smiled, pointing at the lanky boy walking towards them.

Mike hesitantly set his lunch tray down, noticing his friends eager expressions. "Um, what's going on?"

"Dude! did you know El got invited to Jennifer's party!?" Lucas waved the bright flyer around.

Mike's eyes widened as he looked to the girl beside him. "Really?"

"Yeah." El excitedly smiled. "And she said you can come too."

"Sh-she did?" He choked out in unbelief. Mike knew Jennifer's parties were considered legendary among the kids in their grade and an invite to a party of hers was like finding a golden ticket or winning the lottery, definitely a fat chance for "nerds" like them.

"Wait hold up." Max stopped them, grabbing the invitation. "If Wheeler gets to go. Then we're going too." She stated definitively, gesturing between herself and Lucas.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dustin waved his hands catching their attention. "If those two are going, than better believe I," He then cleared his throat, deepening his voice for emphasise. "our party's bard and sole connection to Jennifer Hayes should have the right to be there."

Max shot a glare at the curly haired boy. "Sole connection? Yeah right. You were only paired up that one time in chemistry because her original partner got the flu."

"Connection I tell you!"

"Man, you could barely even talk to her without stuttering like an idiot and knocking over all the test tubes." Lucas laughed at the memory. "If anyone here has a connection, it's Will, since she actually cried at his fake funeral back in middle school."

"Yeah, so in that case.. Will you should come too!" Max insisted.

"GUYS!" Mike cut them off. "First of all, do you hear yourselves? El never said she was going, you all just assumed. So what makes you think we can even go? Second of all, even if we could go, what would be the point? We could probably find something better to do anyways instead of wasting our time at some dumb party.

"What would seriously be better than a once in a lifetime opportunity like this? Lucas retorted annoyed. "Hmm, lemme guess another day of wasted quarters at the arcade? or maybe an excruciating long campaign? Or wait.. I know, maybe we can walk in circles at the mall again, that's always a great time." he huffed, crossing his arms.

Max nodded. "All offense intended. I agree with Lucas."

"I second that." Will stated, his hand slipping up in the air. "Well.. uh without the offense part." he guiltily mumbled.

"Honestly learn to live a little Mike." Dustin said, chomping an apple as bits flew from his mouth. "You're just making excuses because you're kind of freaked out by this being our first high-school party. Yeah I get it.. so what? We deserve a night to just let loose for a change and your girlfriend clearly wants to go too, you're just being a tight ass. Isn't that right El?"

"I mean, I think it would be fun.." El spoke up softly, feeling bad for causing unnecessary tension between them.

Ignoring the slew of I-told-you-so's from the others, Mike looked at her for confirmation. "You really want to go to this?" he sighed uneasily.

"Yes." the brunette replied certain, her voice then dropped slightly in disappointment when she saw the look on his face. "but you don't have to. It's okay, I'll just go with our friends."

It was a punch to the gut, especially since El really wanted Mike to be there. However, she could tell that he really didn't want to go. But she had no idea why, especially since they had so much fun at Dustin's party together or well, so she had thought anyways.

"Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen." Dustin slowly clapped. "The mage has spoken and now we are officially on our way to becoming living legends." he then high fived Will, Lucas, and Max. "Hell yeah baby!"

"I was thinking maybe we could even convince Steve to drive us." Max whimsically smiled at her idea. "and since Mike isn't going, we'd all probably be able to pile in his car."

"No, I'll go."

"What was that? Did you guys hear something?" Lucas teased, purposely ignoring his friend.

"Hmm.." Max stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Sounds like somebody feels left out if you ask me." she joked, joining along.

"Shut up, that's not it." Mike retorted. "I just changed my mind is all."

"Surrreee."

"You really don't have to come if you don't want to." Eleven reassured him, not wanting him to feel pressured by the others.

"It's fine, I'll go." Mike repeated, sounding a little harsher than he intended. He then awkwardly smiled back at her hoping to convince her otherwise. "I mean, it's just better if the group sticks together anyways.. You know, safety in numbers."

El wasn't completely convinced but she would be lying if she said she wasn't even a teensy bit excited that he'd be there with her. But who knows maybe he'd actually change his mind when they got to the party. Maybe then he would see how fun it was.

Yeah, that's what would happen. She was certain of it.

.

.

.

"I know you and I know you don't want to go to this. So what gives?"

The two boys had been waiting patiently on Mike's front porch for about thirty minutes for their ride. They were the last ones to be picked up and by none other than Steve Harrington himself. Somehow the kids had had managed to convince Steve to be their chauffeur for the night, more so Dustin did the convincing but regardless it had worked in their favor. Now Steve was making his rounds going from house to house. But of course he was running late.

Mike hesitantly stood up after he finished lacing up his shoe. He had even tried to dress nice and casual. He wore a simple blue polo and his best pair of jeans. Honestly he really didn't know what to wear to a party like the one they were going to, but he tried regardless.

"It's just, it's gonna be El's first party and I…"

"You want to watch out for her, huh?"

Mike cringed, knowing his friend was undoubtedly reading him like a book. "Is it that obvious?"

"Like I said, I know you." Will gently chuckled. "Worried she'll be jock prey?"

"Pfft.. no.. it's not.." He embarrassingly sputtered.

"It's fine man, I'm just messing with you."

"I know she can take of herself and all it's just.." Mike looked down, caught in his thoughts as he absentmindedly kicked at the ground. "this party will be so different than what she's used to and I guess I just want to make sure she's okay."

Will couldn't help but smile at the boy's good nature. "I see, well-"

He was disrupted by the sound of tires screeching to a halt in the driveway.

They could see all their friends stuffed inside the beat up red Volkswagen, one practically on top of the other with their eager faces pressed against the windows.

"Are you little shit heads coming or not?" Steve suddenly shouted from the driver's seat, his face not nearly as amused as the others.

This was about to be one hell of a night.

.

.

.

The six of them simply stared at the looming house in front of them not even noticing when Steve had rolled down the window just to yell at them to make smart decisions before driving off.

It was nine at night and the party was already in full swing. The gravel shook beneath their feet as the music coming from the house seemed to reverberate through the entire neighborhood while neon lights poured out from the windows, racing across their faces.

"Abort.." Dustin abruptly said, tearing the group from their reverie.

"Nice try." Lucas grabbed him by the shoulder stilling him before he could walk away. "But we're going."

The others followed timidly behind as Lucas led the way, pushing a nervous Dustin along with him.

"Should I have brought a gift?" El asked looking between the others for clarity.

"Something's telling me it's not that kind of party El." Max laughed at her friend's innocence.

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously but her question was drowned out by the roaring music as the group finally entered the doorway.

The first thing El noticed once they stepped inside was the smell.. or smells. One was potent and smelled like beer. The other she couldn't quite distinguish but it smelled pretty bad. It was like a musky scent which faintly smelled like Hopper's cigarettes but not really, it was stronger and smellier.

Jennifer was definitely right about this party being the biggest. El didn't even know that there were this many teens in Hawkins let alone their school. Wait, did some of these kids even go to their school?

However, there were some kids from her grade she definitely recognized but these were people she hardly even associated with. These were the populars and noting some of their judgemental glances she could tell they weren't expecting her and her friends to even be there.

She watched the teens in curiosity.

They were dancing, some wildly like they had just made up their own moves and didn't care about being in sync with the music. The ones who did keep in sync were swaying very close to their partners, their bodies pressed so tightly together that she couldn't imagine how they were comfortable like that.

Some were in groups talking and holding plastic red cups in their hands while flirting and laughing among themselves. She had no idea why some of them were laughing so hard though.. What was so damn funny?

And still there were some that played some sort of game with those same red cups. It was almost like ping pong but without the paddles. She didn't quite understand it though. Was that the only game here?

El could feel Mike's hand tighten around hers and honestly she was so glad he was there right beside her because for some reason she felt unusually nervous. This wasn't like Dustin's party at all.

"Hellooo Janey!" Jennifer stumbled towards her, steadying herself by holding onto her shoulder. "And oh my god, is that little Will I see? Hiiii! I'm so glad you came!" she slurred, waving at the small boy who awkwardly waved back. She then noticed the rest of the group. "And uh.. janey's other friends?"

El was almost blown away by the strong scent of beer on her breath. "That's Mike, Dustin, Max, and Lucas." she said pointing to each of them.

Jennifer appeared unfazed as her attention returned to El and Will.

"Oh um, happy birthday." El suddenly blurted, almost forgetting her manners.

"Oh.. silly." Jennifer playfully swatted. "It's not my birthday."

"Then why are you having a party?"

She could hear the faint groans from her friends before Mike quickly shushed them.

Had she said something wrong? Maybe Jennifer was celebrating for another reason than El had initially thought but what would be the occasion? After all it was March and all the major holidays had passed.

"Because I can." Jennifer obnoxiously laughed. Once she settled, her eyes drifted back to the others. "So are you all just gonna stand by the door or what?" she bluntly asked. "Don't be shy. There's plenty of drinks to go around." she motioned them further inside.

"Guys, I don't think…"

"I guess I'll go get the drinks." Max spoke up, hoping to relieve the awkward tension.

"And um.. I'll go with her." Lucas nodded, grabbing her hand.

"... we should split up." Mike trailed off, noticing nobody was listening.

but soon the both of them disappeared into the sea of smoke, lights, and party goers following after the blonde cheerleader.

"We have done it my friends." Dustin swung his arms around the remainder of the group, gaping in awe at their surroundings. "We're at the party that will go down in Hawkins High history forever."

Mike pulled away, brushing him off. "Yeah, and the host doesn't even know our names."

"She was clearly drunk dude. She probably doesn't even remember her own name"

Mike deadpanned. "But she remembered El and Wi-

"Anyways!" Dustin quickly changed the topic. "What should we do first?"

The three of them just stared blankly between each each other.

"Um.. what do people usually do at these things?" Will asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Glad you asked." Dustin then pulled out a list from his pocket. "So, I stayed up last night doing my research and well I wrote down some stuff we could do."

"What the hell?" Mike snatched the paper from his hand and read over it.

"Number One: Check out what snacks there are. Really… Dustin?"

"Hey it's important that we have a sufficient amount of energy to get us through the night!"

Mike ignored him and continued. "Number two: show off some cool party tricks. Yeah. no." He shook his head. "Number three: play a round of spin the bottle and hope for the best? Again, what the hell?"

"What's spin the bottle?" El inquired, interrupting their banter. "Is it fun?"

"Nah not really, It's just some dumb game."

"Bet you wouldn't be saying that if your spun landed on her."

Mike swiftly jabbed him in the side. "Shut up. By the way this list is the literal reason why people make fun of us."

Dustin grabbed the list back. "Well I don't see you coming up with any better ideas."

"HEY YOU!"

The four of them whipped around so fast at the sound of the deep bolstering voice.

They could see a husky blonde haired guy walking right towards them and he was pointing straight at Dustin.

And If it wasn't for the Hawkins lacrosse sweatshirt this guy was wearing they would've assumed he was a full grown man and definitely not some kid from their school.

"Me?" Dustin gulped, looking over his shoulder with uncertainty.

"Yeah. You."

He instantly froze in place, his face beginning to turn a ghost white.

El stood up straighter, preparing herself to intervene. What could this guy possibly want with Dustin anyways? They didn't even know him.

"I need a partner for beer pong.. You game?"

Dustin deflated with relief. He then nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah.. Yeah, sure thing." he muttered before soon following after the senior.

"I'm gonna go with him." Will mentioned to Mike and El before hastily leaving to catch up.

The couple stood there awkwardly beside themselves.

El didn't understand this party at all..

Not only was the music insanely loud but so were the people. They were yelling or stumbling over themselves like they had completely forgotten how to walk.

Not to mention it also stunk in here.. Those weird smells along with the scent of musty body odor masked the entire house. ew.

And there weren't any games either.. Well aside from that one called beer pong or whatever but nothing that looked remotely fun.

El sighed in disappointment, this wasn't at all what she was expecting. It would probably be better if they just left now then maybe somehow they could still salvage the rest of the night. She turned to Mike to tell him but before she could.

"We come bearing gifts." Lucas chuckled as he and Max approached the pair holding a bunch of red cups in their arms.

"Wherre's the other dorks?" The redhead asked, her words beginning to slur slightly on her tongue.

"They went to play a game." El answered, noting the change in her friend's demeanor.

Max just shrugged. "Well more for us then." She said, handing the cups to Mike and El.

Mike disdainfully looked inside the red cup. "What's in this?" he asked, cautiously swishing the liquid around.

"I don't know." Lucas smiled, his eyes growing glassy in appearance. "Honestly, it tastes like shit, but trust me it gets better the more you drink it."

El took a small sip and immediately the back of her throat began to intensely burn. She winced at the hard taste. What was the hell was this?

"Dudeee, just try it." Lucas gestured to Mike who was still staring down at his cup. "Look even your girlfriend drank some, don't be such a pussy."

"I'm not." Mike mumbled under his breath along with a swear.

He then took a huge swig in effort to prove him wrong. But it wasn't too long before he started coughing, his eyes beginning to water.

Lucas laughed as he patted his friend on the back. "Better luck next time."

Max hurriedly gulped down the rest of her drink and threw the empty cup down. "Come on, let's dance stalker.' she said, whisking Lucas away once again.

Her friends were definitely acting strange, well more strange than usual. She looked at Mike and she could tell he was thinking the same thing based off the look on his face. Maybe it had something to do with this weird drink?

Mike shifted uneasily as he clenched the cup in his hand. "So um…"

"You want to get out of here?" El finished the sentence for him.

She noticed he smiled the first genuine smile he had that whole night.

.

.

.

They eventually wandered to a secluded spot in Jennifer's backyard. At first they thought about going down the street to Benny's but decided against it, knowing they couldn't just ditch their friends here by themselves.

The two began to become immune to their strong drinks as they took tentative sips from their cups, indulging in the fresh air and lack of noise as they sat together on the back porch swing.

"You were right Mike." She said cutting the air of silence between them.

"Right about what?"

"About this party being a waste of our time." El deeply sighed. "I just thought it would be like the other ones we went to."

"Oh." The sudden realization dawned on him. "Like that Christmas party we went to?"

"Kinda, well I thought this one would be more like Dustin's." El sheepishly looked away. "I'm so stupid.." She was starting to feel a little fuzzy, but weirdly enough, it kind of felt relaxing.

"No, you're not. It's okay, there's no way you would've known."

"But you knew, didn't you?"

Mike hesitated in response unknowingly giving her the answer.

"That's why you didn't wanna come." El replied for him, her legs stopping the flow of the swing. "You knew it would be like this."

"Well not exactly.. I had my suspicions, but it's only because I've heard things from others. Also Nancy told me about this one party her and Steve went to and-

"These high-school parties." El quickly cut off his rambling. "Everyone already knew about them." Her face then fell in discouragement. "Everyone but me.." she mumbled, her voice tainted with shame.

"You don't give yourself enough.. credit." He reassured her, grabbing her hand. His words were becoming slower, almost as if his mouth couldn't keep up with his thoughts. "You've caught up so much in the last couple of years. It's honestly.. incredible how far you've come since we first met."

"I know." El looked over at him before taking a sip of her drink. "It's just, I wish sometimes I was normal like everyone else."

"Screw normal."

"Wait, what?"

"Normality is bullshit El." Mike remarked, his tone louder than usual. "Look over there." He gestured back to the house up ahead. "That's what's considered the high-school normal."

"A loud party full of mouth breathers?"

"Yup." Mike softly chuckled. "So guess you're not alone then because I'm not normal either."

"Well, screw normal!" El stood up and shouted into the open air. A new sense of pride dwelling within her.

Mike laughed along with her as she fell back into the swing, causing it to rock back and forth.

He then looked over at her as their laughter died down. His heart leapt in his chest as he took in just how beautiful she was under the moonlight glow.

"By the way, this night isn't a complete waste."

"How?"

They literally came to a smelly party with a bunch of people they didn't know well and didn't do anything the whole night so it definitely had seemed that way to her.

"Because I get to be with you." he playfully knocked his knees into hers.

El couldn't help but smile at him. That simple phrase meaning more to her than he would ever know.

And before she knew it she pulled his face to meet hers and she kissed him.

She had never felt so light and giddy.. and bold.

He kissed her back and she only deepened the kiss between them, craving more than what they were normally accustomed to.

He slowly pulled away from her lips. His glazed eyes searching hers for assurance. "Is this okay?"

But she said nothing instead grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and kissing him harder with passion and fervor.

She didn't know what she was really doing but as a new hunger sparked within her she just knew she needed him close.

Her fingers made its way in his dark curls. Her mouth heatedly pressed against his and she could taste the liquor on him as their tongues danced together for the first time.

It was perfect and damn, it felt so good. A delirious happiness suddenly washed over her and she had suddenly wondered why they had never done this before.

He groaned softly against her mouth as his arms encircled her, gathering her up against him.

"Uh…ahem, guys."

They hesitantly pulled away from each other, staring back at each other in wonder like they had just discovered the world's best kept secret.

If it weren't for their impaired judgement they would've probably be on opposite sides of the swing by now trying to hide their guilt ridden faces, but they were tipsy and they honestly couldn't care less.

"Err..." Will looked down at the ground embarrassed. "Sorry to interrupt, but Dustin's currently puking his guts out. Lucas is passed out on the couch and Max keeps trying to pick fights with the football team." he sighed tiredly. "And well, I just really wanna go home."

They turned to look at the boy as though his words had finally registered with them.

"Alright we'll be there in a sec."

Once they watched Will walk away, Mike and El couldn't help but giggle between themselves as they relished in the remainders of pure bliss from their kiss earlier.

This had definitely been a night neither of them would ever forget

Chapter Text

“Please welcome our new foriegn exchange student who is visiting us all the way from Germany, Miss Sofia Altendorf.”

All eyes were suddenly glued on the new girl who stood in front of the class alongside their English teacher. It was so unusually quiet you could hear a pin drop, the previous whispers and murmurs ceasing as everyone stared in wonder at their newest peer.

El remembered that just a couple years ago she had been right there in Sofia’s shoes. It had been one of the most nerve wracking experiences she’d probably ever faced. It was not only tough being among kids her own age (which she quickly found out could be brutal) but the fact they knew nothing about her aside from the rumors spread about her being the weird adopted girl with the mysterious past, didn’t make it that much easier for her to fit in.

But for this girl it was different. She didn’t seem anxious like El was at all. No, quite the opposite actually. She seemed to light up the room upon entry with such an outward charisma and confidence, literally all bright smiles since the moment she walked in the door.

El closely watched as she curtsied when introducing herself, not caring in the slightest that her thick accent made her stand out, lacing within each word that she spoke. El secretly wished she could be more like that.. more free and more confident in herself.

She was also pretty, which rightfully fit her exuberant personality, in a way it kind of made El feel a bit self conscious for it was almost as if this girl came out of a magazine or something with her long perfect golden hair, blue eyes, and flawless makeup.

And obviously El wasn’t the only one who thought that, half the boys in her class must’ve thought the same thing which became increasingly apparent in their whistles and obscene comments as their newest classmate walked towards an empty desk in the middle of the room.

But as the class droned on for the next hour and a half, so far gone was the new girl from El’s train of thought. All she could think about now, was seeing Mike at lunch and hopefully getting started on these reading assignments that were now piling on top of all the other homework she had to get done. Ugh, annoying..

El anxiously picked at the loose strings of her sweater, glancing up every couple of minutes from the group’s conversation to look up at the faces that passed by their table. He wasn’t even here yet and lunch was halfway over. “Where’s Mike?”

“Oh damn, I totally forgot. He told me to tell you he wasn’t coming.”

Her face tightened at Dustin’s response. “Why not?” she asked, trying but failing miserably to hold back the edge in her tone.

“Something about needing to help the principal? I don’t really remember.” The curly headed teen simply shrugged, unphased by her obvious frustration. “But Mike sends his apologies.” he replied, proceeding to open up his lunch sack, taking out a sandwich and a bag of chips and setting them to the side before reaching back into the bag. “Along with this.” he pulled out a smaller zip locked bag and handed it to her.

El’s frown shifted into a small smile when she opened the tiny bag. He had brought her eggos, of course he had. Mike usually brought her favorite waffles as a way to make it up to her when he was too wrapped up with tutoring or A.V. and he couldn’t make it to lunch with her. It was what she had officially coined as his apology eggos.

Even though she honestly thought it was the sweetest thing ever it still didn't really make up for not seeing him. Although, she tried to be understanding given it definitely has been a lot harder to see each other now given their current circumstances.

For one, they didn’t have any classes together this year. Mike was taking all advanced classes while El was in general doing her best to keep up. With that said, no classes together on top of juggling assignments, extracurriculars, and Mike’s new job at the diner, it was a miracle they ever saw each other at all.

She wouldn’t lie and say it didn’t bother her, because it did. She missed being able to see him practically all the time like they did freshman year and last summer. But she knew how much Mike desired to make it into a great college for engineering, so she tried her hardest to squash that feeling down.

“Did you guys see the new girl?” Will asked, purposely shifting the conversation away from the group’s ongoing complaints about the amount of homework they were swamped with.

“Pffft, like dude who hasn’t?” Dustin toothily grinned, popping a Cheeto puff in his mouth. “She’s crazy hot.” he mumbled through chomped bits.

“Yeah, she’s totally hot-” Lucas stopped himself, his smile immediately changing into an awkward grimace when he caught sight of Max burning a hole into him with her gaze. “Not.. not hot.” he coughed in an effort to regain his composure. “Definitely nowhere near as hot as you.”

Max snorted under her breath, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, nice save.”

“She’s in my English class. She seems nice, I guess?” El chimed in, not quite understanding everyone’s fascination with this girl. “She’s a.. foreign exchange student?” she asked, biting into her eggo.

“Foreign exchange is this program for kids to travel to other countries and see how it’s like to actually live there.” Will explained, noticing the term was unfamiliar to her.

“They stay with some random family and go to some random school for about half a year before they go back to their home country.” Max jumped in where he left off. “I honestly don't get the point because I think high school is shitty regardless of what country you’re in, but hey, to each their own.”

“So El, did you happen to catch which country she’s from?” Dustin asked, stuffing another Cheeto in his mouth.

“I think it was Germany.”

“Wow, that’s even hotter.” He let out a dreamy sigh while licking the cheese dust from off his fingers.

“Better save it Henderson, because long distance is not exactly your thing.” Lucas laughed under his breath before sneakily snatching a cheeto from his bag, much to his dismay.

“Oh and what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t you remember what happened with Suzie?” Max teased, teaming up with her boyfriend. “Because we definitely seem to recall, don’t we Lucas?”

“What happened between Suzie and I was a mutual decision. Why is this even being brought up douchebags? It was forever ago!”

“Mutual decision my ass.. I still to this day can’t believe she was even real.”
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El lingered beside her open locker. It had been almost five minutes now and she knew the bell would ring at any moment but she secretly hoped that if she stood around long enough that maybe she’d catch a glimpse of her favorite freckle faced boy coming down the hall, but so far no such luck.

“Ready for Schneider's?”

El had been so caught in her thoughts that she hadn’t even seen best friend approaching. It was a good thing Max hadn’t noticed how zoned out she was or she would’ve definitely gotten an earful about it.

“Not really.” El sighed, grudgingly pulling out her history textbook. “Her class is always so boring.” she closed her locker door.

“Right! especially ever since she made us switch desks because we were quote unquote “disrupting everyone else’s learning environment with our constant talking.” Max exaggerated with added air quotations. “Which is total bullshit if you ask me.”

El couldn’t help but giggle at the memory of them getting scolded by their history teacher. It had been a long time coming though and honestly she’s surprised they hadn’t gotten in trouble much sooner.

“You know what.” Max enthused, looking back over at her friend with coy and expectant eyes. “Why don’t we just skip her class?”

“Skip?” El cringed, unsure of the idea. She usually avoiding skipping especially when knowing she had to do twice as much work as everyone else just to catch up from being a little behind. “I don’t kno-

“Come on El.” the redhead insisted, leaning up against the lockers. “We haven’t skipped since.. like what? last year. It’s not gonna hurt anyone if we miss class just this once. Plus, knowing Schneider, she’s probably just gonna continue lecturing on and on about the Civil war until our ears bleed like she did yesterday.

El anxiously rubbed at her arm, still not entirely convinced. “But what if she gives a pop quiz?”

“So?” Max snorted, fixing her falling backpack strap onto her shoulder. “What’s the worst that could happen? If you’re worried you’ll fall behind, need I remind you that you’re basically dating your own private tutor.

And you and I both know that all you have to do is bat those puppy dog eyes once and Mike would do all your homework for you in a heartbeat.” she knowingly grinned, playfully bumping into El’s shoulder. “So what do ya say?”

El rolled her eyes at Max’s persistence, yet she couldn’t help the smile creeping up on her face in turn giving her friend the answer she was hoping for.

Max excitedly squealed as she linked her arm in El’s and before the bell had rung, the two girls disappeared down the end of the hall.
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The two of them walked side by side near the empty football field, having to go around it in order to avoid any teachers or patrol officers who were usually posted by the front entrance. The windy air was cold and crisp like it usually was after a recent rain storm.

Fall had just come to an end and winter was fast approaching proven by the newly barren trees. The leaves that were once hues of gold and orange had fallen and turned a tinged shade of brown. The previous rain storm made the leaves slimy as they clumped to the ground, now starting to stick to the girls boots as they walked through to the other side of the field.

“So what should we do first? I was thinking we could visit that new coffee shop that just opened right across the street.”

But El hardly heard what was said, her attention diverted to the pair walking on the opposite side of the field. She narrowed her eyes trying to get a better view. “Hey Max.. is that?”

“No way” Max’s mouth dropped slightly, looking in the direction of El’s gaze.“ What’s Wheeler doing out here? and the hell.. is that the new girl?”

Mike’s mop of black hair bounced up and down as he talked excitedly to the foreign exchange student who had been smiling ear to ear at everything he said so far.

Even though they were out of earshot and she hadn’t known what was being said, El couldn’t help but feel unnerved, a sudden uneasiness rocking her. Why was he alone with her? and why the hell was she smiling at him like that?

“Quick, over here, they’re coming.” Max rushed, urging El to follow behind her under the bleachers.

“What-?”

“Shh..” Max put a single finger in front of her mouth, quiet her. “They’ll hear us.”

“What are we doing?”

“Don’t you think it’s a little weird that Mike is skipping class with this new chick?”

El nodded.

“And don’t you think it's also weird that they’re out here... alone?”

El hesitated as she thought about it but then nodded again.

“So we’re just doing a little investigating. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Max answered, her eyes darting back to the field. “So has Mike said anything to you about skipping class today or-?

“No, but Dustin told me that Mike was helping out the principal today.”

“Well hate to break it to you” Max sighed. “but that doesn’t exactly look like charity work to me.” she motioned her head over at the two.

El couldn’t believe what she was seeing. This girl was not only giggling at everything Mike was saying but she kept touching him. She would brush her shoulder against his and would put her hand on his bicep whenever he said something she thought was funny, and suddenly it dawned on her..

German girl was flirting

and with HER boyfriend.

El felt her blood turn to ice and her stomach clenched tightly along with her fists.

“Has he said anything else to you? like-

But El quickly covered Max’s mouth with her hands when she noticed that the Mike and Sofia were now passing by right in front of the bleachers that the girls were hiding behind.

“This bowling you told me about..” Sofia pulled her white coat closer to her body to ward off the frigid wind as she walked alongside Mike on the track. “Americans do it often?”

“Kinda.” Mike answered, kicking at the loose gravel on the track. “I mean, my friends and I usually go bowling when we don’t have much else to do. I’m not all that great at it, but it’s still fun, I guess.”

“Can we go?” Sofia warmly smiled up at him, her hands swinging way to close to his for El’s liking. “This Saturday?”

El and Max both exchanged the same incredulous glances. She couldn’t be serious right? This upcoming Saturday the party had already made plans to hang out. Everyone even went out of their way to clear their schedules for this. It was set in stone and everything, no way would he agree..

Mike rubbed the back of neck, pausing as he wrestled with the idea. “Well..”

El closed her eyes and held her breath, wringing her hands in anticipation.

What was he hesitating for? He wouldn’t just cancel their plans to hang out with some random girl he barely knew.. would he? Not unless.. no, no, she didn’t even want to think that way.

“Um, yeah I think that can work.” Mike finally concluded, offering her a half smile. “Okay, Saturday.”

El suddenly gulped down the breath she’d been holding. She felt as though her heart had just been pummeled and was now sinking to the bottom of her chest.

He can’t do this to her…

He would never do this to her..

Suddenly the thoughts El tried so hard to keep at bay, came flooding in all at once.
Her jumbled thoughts fought back and forth until she could no longer force down her feelings. Her increasing anger and now impending hurt began to surface just as fast as magma in a volcano and just as destructive.

Max could see the change in her friend’s face, the immediate darkening of her eyes and wry expression no longer one of annoyance but now of full fledged anger and Max knew it wouldn’t be much longer before she exploded. “El.” she warned, but it was no use as the girl began to focus all of her attention on the pair walking away.

“I would just have to ask-” but before Mike could finish that statement, a brutal whirlwind of leaves and twigs immediately began to encompass them. It was like a violent gust all of a sudden emerged out of nowhere and the two of them found themselves stuck in the middle, shielding their faces from the flying debris as best as they could.

“Holy shit!” Mike blocked his eyes with his hands as he looked for Sofia. “Get down!” He yelled, grabbing her by the shoulder and forcing her to crouch down but there was no point for they both flew backwards face first onto the muddy field. It was only then that the whirlwind had subsided just as quickly as it had appeared.

Sofia frantically glanced around the field and then back at Mike, her mouth frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise.

His face had washed blank with confusion as the gears in his brain kept churning, desperate to piece together what the hell had just happened. “You okay?” he barely managed to cough out as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Whoa.” Sofia gasped, as she laid there still feeling a little too shaken to sit up. “The wind here in America is crazy.”

He knew in his gut that this wasn’t the wind. It was far too forceful and it didn’t even make much sense. Yeah, sure it was windy today, but this thing just came out of nowhere so unexpectedly and flat out knocked them both to the ground then disappeared?

How?

He glanced over towards the bleachers and could barely make out the sight of a girl with chestnut brown hair disappearing behind the school with a redhead trailing behind her.

El.

Mike quickly helped Sofia back to her feet, noticing that her once bright ivory coat was now ruined with grass stains and mud. “I’m really sorry about this, but I-well, I gotta go.” he rushed, before taking off. “Meet you back at school!”

“What? Where are you going?” Sofia stood there completely dumbfounded in the middle of the field alone as she watched him sprint back towards Hawkins High. “Uh.. Mike?”

“El!” Mike breathily shouted as he finally managed to catch up with her. However, she blatantly ignored him and rounded the corner, stomping towards the school’s parking lot.

“Screw off Mike.” Max defiantly stood in front of him with her arms crossed, purposely putting herself as a wedge between him and El. “You know you’ve got some kind of nerve to-”

Mike didn’t bother listening to what she had to say as he pushed himself past her instead walking up to his girlfriend and grabbing her by the arm.

“Get away from me.” she seethed, trying to shake off his grip but he held on until she finally turned around to face him.

“What the hell?”

Her face was a deep shade of red, both from her apparent anger and tears he could tell she was fighting so hard to hold back. She quickly swiped at the trickle of blood from her nose while she bore him down with such an icy glare that it made chills instantly shoot down his spine.

“What was that about?” Mike demanded to know, as he searched her eyes for answers.

“You’re a liar.”

“Wh-what?” He shook his head in disbelief, not understanding in the slightest what was happening. He looked at her, his brows now furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh don’t play dumb, Wheeler.” Max interjected, stepping towards him. “Do you really think El’s that naive?” She glowered and forcefully stuck her finger in his chest. “What was your sorry ass excuse again? Oh yeah.. That you’re helping out the principal?” She plastered a fake smile on her face. ”That is what you said right?”

But Max didn’t wait for him to answer as she continued. “Hmm, only asking because, well.. I don’t know.” she snorted sarcastically as her face fell back into a scowl. “It just seems to us that you’re a lot more interested in skipping class and chatting it up with the new girl than you are about helping out dear old Mr. Craig.”

“That’s-” Mike shook his head fiercely. “No.. no.” he put his face in hands and slowly took in a deep breath. “Can I just talk to El” he exhaled, glaring back up at Max with eyes begging her to leave. “You know... alone.”

Max glanced between the couple and El simply gave her friend a curt nod in response.

“Alright, but El, if you need me to come over here and kick his ass, just say the word.” she then smiled in amusement upon noticing Mike’s muddled expression. “I’ll be waiting for you in the car when you’re done.” she thumbed over to her beat up Honda sitting on the other side of the parking lot.

“Oh yeah and Mike,” Max looked back over her shoulder, her red hair whipping in the wind. “You look like shit.” she casually mentioned, before disappearing off into the distance.

Mike scrunched his face as he looked down, now fully aware that his clothes were caked in mud. He shook his head and quickly refocused his attention on the girl in front of him knowing that his dirty clothes were the least of his worries.

“So what do you want?” El urged, her voice cold and distant.

Mike winced at the indignation in her tone. “I didn’t lie to you, okay. The principal had asked me earlier this week to give Sofia a tour of the school since she’s new here, so that’s all I was doing. His face slowly twisted in confusion when it suddenly dawned on him that she wasn’t in class. “What are you even doing out here? Aren’t you supposed to be in history?”

“Skipping.” El unabashedly replied as her face fell flat, unmoved by his explanation. “I didn’t know school tours also included bowling.”

“Wait, were you eavesdropping?”

El answered him with another glare and Mike ground his teeth, growing even more impatient with her.

“They don’t have bowling where she’s from and she was really interested in trying it. I know what you’re thinking and no, I didn’t suddenly drop our plans with our friends. I was actually gonna check with you and the rest of the party to see if it would be cool if she tagged along.”

El’s shoulders fell, the burning fire in her chest now becoming extinguished. She felt instantly relieved that her worst fear imaginable happened to be just a simple misunderstanding.

“But that was before I was blown away to freakin kingdom come!” Mike threw up his hands in exasperation but he stopped himself and carefully eyed the parking lot for any bystanders. “You know you can’t just use your powers in public like that.” he lowered his voice into a strong whisper as he looked back at her. “What were you thinking?”

El couldn’t shake off her initial frustration with Mike, even though she knew he was in the clear it still didn’t really help that he was talking to her like she was some child who didn’t know the rules. “Nobody saw me.” she snapped.

“How can you be so sure?” Mike heavily sighed, as he began to pace back and forth. “There are literally hundreds of kids and not to mention teachers at this school right this very second. El, what you did..” he rubbed a hand anxiously through his messy hair. “What you did was.. ugh!”

“What I did was.. what?” El challenged, her eyes narrowing. “Finish.”

Mike stopped dead in his tracks, his face tightening as he met her glare. “What you did was stupid, okay! What you did was completely and utterly stupid! You not only put yourself at risk for no reason whatsoever but you went and probably scarred the new girl for life.” he massaged the edge of his temples, hoping to rid himself of the newly impending headache. “Damn it, she’s gonna give me such a bad report for ditching her, I just know it.”

“Good.” El snorted. “It’s not like she matters anyway.”

“What the hell?” Mike sputtered, his restrained anger now bubbling to the surface. “Do you have a problem with her or something?”

El dodged his gaze, looking anywhere but his eyes.

She just couldn’t find it in herself to tell him that she hated the way Sofia had acted around him, the way she looked him up and down with such flirty eyes and not to mention, how she dared to touch him like he was her property or something. But what El absolutely hated more than anything about Sofia was the mere fact that the girl was definitely a lot prettier than she was.

“So.. you do.” Mike answered for her. “The girl has literally only been here for a day and you already hate her guts, wow.”

“Ugh..” She loudly groaned. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Understand what? That you have zero self control and abuse people with your powers just because you don’t like them? Because I understand clearly.”

“You know what..” El could feel her nails digging in the palm of her hands, her patience wearing thin. “You’re- You’re insufferable!”

“Oh, that’s new.” He scoffed. “Where did you learn that from? Max?”

Ouch, she had felt that burn a mile away. Why was he being like this to her? If he’d just been at lunch today instead of frolicking off with this new girl then this convo wouldn’t even be happening right now. But If he wanted a fight then she’d definitely give him a fight.

“Are you serious?” El looked back up at him in complete disbelief, her teeth grinding so hard that her jaw was growing sore. “I’m not dumb, I know what words mean!”

“You’re taking it the wrong way! I didn’t even mean it like that!” Mike abruptly protested. “All I’m saying is that Max has been known to string you along in the past and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if she probably strung you along this time.” he angrily muttered under his breath.

“So now what are you trying to say? That I can’t think for myself?” El pressed, her facial muscles starting to twitch from her forced restraint of emotions. “Or is it that you don’t want me and Max to be friends?”

“What!? No! I didn’t even say that!” Mike frantically shook his head.

“Yes!”

“No!” he huffed his breath visible like smoke in the cold air. “How about you just stop putting words in my mouth?”

“How about you just stop being an asshole!?” El fumed, unable to control her tongue.

And as soon as that word left her mouth it had left a bad taste. Mike just stood there in absolute silence, not daring to refute her for the first time since their fight had begun. She could see the anger in his eyes slowly dissipate being replaced by a tense guilt.

She was very familiar with that look on his face. Every time he’d allow his stubbornness to get the best of him and he knew he’d put his foot in his mouth he would look at her exactly like that.. with such shame, that she could imagine he was probably mentally beating himself up.

But this time it wasn’t his fault, it was hers.

How in this moment all she wanted to do was reach out to touch his face and soothe away his concern. He’d actually done nothing wrong. He never had.

It wasn’t his fault he had to do so much just to look good for college applications. It wasn’t his fault he was such a sweet guy and of course another girl would think the same way. And it definitely wasn’t his fault that she evaded the truth of all of these things by starting this stupid argument with him in the first place.

To be honest with herself she just didn’t feel like she was good enough for him anymore and it was like all of these sudden and intense emotions were starting to snowball one after the other and before she knew it, she felt smothered to the point she couldn’t breathe.

So El did the only thing she knew to do and began to take off, but before she could even get a few steps away, he grabbed her by the hand.

“Wait.” Mike swallowed roughly, his once taut face now becoming slack with concern. “Let’s try and talk this out, okay?”

She looked into his eyes for a moment and suddenly felt uneasy. Everything in her was telling her to stay but for some reason she couldn’t make herself do it. She wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him.

“No.” El responded. “I’m done talking.” she pulled her hand away, not so much as giving him a second glance as she left him to stand there in the middle of the parking lot by himself.
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It had only been a few days since they last had spoken but it honestly felt more like months.
Ever since the day of their fight, they had mutually given each other the silent treatment.

Also, not only was it their biggest fight to date but the longest they’d even gone without speaking to each other and time seemed to trudge by SO slowly that El was now very aware of every new gap in her life that he’d previously used to fill.

Instead of Mike, Max was now the one driving her to and from school. She didn’t really mind it, Max was great and all, she even tried to cheer up with their favorite Madonna songs but of course it wasn’t the same.

El didn’t receive the usual cute note from him she’d often find waiting for her in her locker. He usually sneaked it in her locker in between classes and she always looked forward to them especially since it would usually help lighten her mood after a long morning of Trig.

She now went to bed falling asleep to the sound of the T.V. instead of their usual late night talks and she had absolutely no reason to go to the diner anymore where she’d read her favorite books and munch on free fries he’d sneak her in the meantime while she patiently waited for his shift to end.

She also didn’t get apology eggos from him for missing lunch which he now purposely missed, instead choosing to sit outside with another group of kids she didn’t even realize he was friends with.

Which also made their already suspicious friends even more aware that something was going on between them. They had already suspected something when Mike hadn’t even bothered going to the party’s planned hang out instead giving an excuse at the last minute that he couldn’t make it because he felt sick. None of their friends bought the lie and El couldn’t say she blamed them.

It was always pretty obvious to the party when her and Mike were in a fight, however, this fight was now officially going on it’s fourth day and even in all her stubbornness and pride, she couldn’t lie to herself and say she didn’t absolutely hate this.

She missed him.

Hell, she missed him… a lot.
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“El.”

“What?” she muttered, not bothering to look up instead focused on picking at the skin of the apple in her hand.

Max glanced over at the passenger's seat, before turning the wheel. “This moping shit has gone on long enough. So either you break up with him and move on or try to figure this thing out, but something’s gotta give because you’ve worn the same sweatshirt for the last couple of days and I question if you’ve even taken a shower since then.”

“Do you think he wants to break up?” El’s voice raised with panic. It was the exact same question that had been prodding her mind every single day since their huge fight.

What if this was it?

What if they were done?

She hated to think about it, but then that nagging voice in the back of her head would remind her that maybe if they did break up he would be better off.

“Yeah right. Wheeler break up with you? Ha, not even if the world was about to end and his life depended on it.” Max replied lightheartedly, hoping to relieve her nerves but it was to no avail as El grew even more despondent. “Why don’t you just talk to him?” She added, nudging her friend with her free arm.

El stopped picking her apple, and stared dismally outside the car window. “I don’t think he wants to.”

“Why not?” Max disdainfully asked as if her friend had asked the dumbest question ever. “Thank God, he’s not a two timing man whore like we’d originally thought or shit would’ve hit the fan real quick.” she chuckled in relief as she continued to keep her eyes on the road. “So it’s not like he has anything to be afraid of and lucky enough for him, he even gets to keep his balls. So what’s the problem?”

“I was pretty harsh towards him.” El redirected, far too caught up in her thoughts to engage Max’s sarcasm. “He didn’t deserve that. It wasn’t really his fault.”

“Look, I know I gave a lot of shitty advice to you about your relationship when we were kids.” Max cringed guiltily recalling the memory. “But that’s only because I didn’t really understand what you and Mike have. I honestly still don’t. You two are not the average couple, not by a long shot.” she snorted, a half smile growing on her face while she pulled into their school’s parking lot. “So with that being said, I’m not gonna make that same mistake this time. Talk to him El. I know without a doubt he’d want that.”

“Yeah.” El sighed. She sunk back into her seat and offered her friend a grateful smile. “I guess you’re right, I’ll talk to him.”

“Well looks like it’s your time to shine.” Max immediately pulled up to the curb. She then pointed over towards the school’s entrance where Mike was seen walking with the rest of their group of friends.

“Wait, now?” El’s eyes grew wide. She hadn’t had time to think about what she was gonna say or how she was gonna say it. Shit, shit, shit.

“Yup.” The redhead knowingly smirked. “Now out you go.” she said, ushering her out of the car.

El staggered out the car door, trying her best to grab her things as Max continued to rush her. “But Max hold on, I don't-”

“Good luck, Don’t forget to give me all the details later, kay? love ya, bye!” Max then slammed the door and sped off leaving El awkwardly beside herself.

Shit!

She peeked through the throng of students until she saw him. Mike was far too caught up with talking to Lucas and Will over near the courtyard that he hadn’t noticed her.

She couldn’t help but smile to herself despite the anxiety that was now pooling in her gut.

He was wearing that nice blue sweater (which also happened to be her absolute favorite sweater) with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. The wind gently pushed back his raven hair which did nothing but help accentuate his sharp facial features and make her heart instantly somersault in her chest.

Wow, he looked so handsome.

El made a face at how she looked in comparison. Her hair hadn’t been combed since yesterday and Max had been correct, she was wearing the same sweatshirt for the third day in a row with pants that she didn’t even bother to match.

Geez, she probably looked homeless or something.

In an attempt to fix herself, she quickly raked her fingers through her messy hair and tried her best to smooth out the wrinkles in her clothes.

Damn it, if she knew she’d be talking to Mike right this instant she’d definitely would’ve took a shower this morning. Ugh! but there was nothing she could do about it now so with a heavy sigh, she swung her backpack over her shoulder and headed his way. .

It was now or never.

“Yeah, yeah, I know that but who in their right mind would actually-” Mike droned off mid sentence, instantly distracted from the conversation by the sight of her approaching him.

Lucas and Will both turned around to see what caught his attention.

“Hey Mike.” El spoke carefully noticing she’d caught him off guard as he looked at her with a mixture of surprise and hesitation.

“Uh, hey..”

El fidgeted nervously with her hands. “Can we talk?” she asked, daring to meet his gaze.

“I almost completely forgot.” Lucas blurted out, slapping a palm to his forehead. “Me and Will promised we’d meet up with Max at the library before class.”

“We did?”

“Yes, Will.” Lucas’s eyes motioned between the couple before he glared back at him. “Remember…?”

“O-Oh” Will stuttered, as he finally caught on. “Yeah, to help her with her.. um, homework.”

“Exactly, her homework.” Lucas sighed, knowing Will was a lost cause. “So we’ll catch you guys later.” he rushed, starting to walk away. “See ya!”

“Bye Mike, Bye El!” Will shouted behind him as he followed Lucas through the school’s double doors.

Mike rolled his eyes at his friends obvious gesture before he turned back to face El, his expression fell flat, the initial surprise now long gone. “I thought you were done talking to me.” he remarked, his arms folded tightly against his chest.

“Mike, please.” Her eyes pleaded with him on her behalf and she could see his face soften at her request.

“Okay.” he sighed. "But we only have like ten minutes before class starts.” he glanced down at his watch.

“Ten minutes is all I need.”
.
.
.
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They sat down together at one of the empty benches found in the courtyard. Some teens were sprawled here and there but most had already went to their first class of the day. It was pretty chilly out and El mentally berated herself for not preferring that they had this chat some place inside.

El noticed that Mike chose to sit on the other end of the bench, intentionally giving her space. He looked over at her with an anxious expression as though he was preparing for the worst.

She absentmindedly tugged on her sweatshirt, partially because of nerves and partially to warm her hands. “You were right Mike.”

His eyebrows immediately quirked up and she had to bite back a smile at how cute she thought that was.

“I should have never used my powers in public like that and I normally don’t but.. ” El paused, trying to figure out how to approach this. “That Sophia girl, she was flirting with you and then you were talking about taking her bowling and-”

“Wait, she was flirting with me?” he stared at her dumbfounded, as though this was news to him.

El slowly nodded, lines of confusion drawing in her brow. “You didn’t notice?”

“Um, no actually.” Mike shrugged, rubbing his arm. He then hesitated, momentarily deep in thought. “So that’s why you were mad?”

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have done that.”

Mike’s mouth fell as though a lightbulb suddenly went off in his head, “So you were there.” he chuckled in unbelief. “And all these years I thought I had been going crazy..”

El’s face fell. “What are you talking about?”

“You were there that day when Max and I were looking for Dart during that whole mind flayer incident years ago.” He clarified. “You knocked her off her board, didn’t you?”

“Yes..” El hung her head shamefully. She had apologized to Max about that awhile back but it never crossed her mind to talk about it with Mike. “and I shouldn’t have done that either, it’s just…” she trailed, struggling with letting her walls down.

“It’s just..?”

“I get.. jealous.” El winced as the last word rolled off her tongue. “I’m not as pretty or as smart as some of these other girls. I don’t talk the way they do or act like they act. They weren’t raised in a lab with a number as a name and they didn't grow up worried about monsters or the upside down.” Her voice began to crack, as tears started to flow down her cheeks. “I guess, sometimes I get scared that one day you’ll realize that you can have someone so much better for you who doesn’t have as many problems as me.” she confessed, finally unveiling to him many years of pent up insecurity.

El had been looking down in an attempt to cover up the fact that she'd been crying that she hadn’t even noticed that Mike had made his way beside her until she felt his arm around her.

“Hey.” he cooed, gently reaching out a hand to caress her face. He then wiped away a stray tear with his thumb before it could fall.

“Do you know why I didn’t even notice that Sophia was flirting with me?”

She looked up at him and although his hand was cold upon her cheek his eyes were so full of warmth it made her melt underneath his gaze.

“Because the entire time I was talking to her and giving her the tour of the school, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.” Mike answered with a gentle smile.

He then slowly pulled his hand away from her and his face turned serious. “I know you’ve grown up in a way nobody else has. You’ve suffered through so much shit and it wasn’t fair that you had to go through what you did but because of it you're a lot stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. And sure, you might be different because of it but I love that about you.”

“El, I only wish you could see.. ” Mike softly breathed, using a single hand to tilt her chin up to face him. “That I love every single thing about you. There’s no one for me but you. I mean you’re it, you're all I've ever needed. So I hate to break it to you but you’re kind of stuck with me. Well, until you decide you’re finally tired of me and move on.” he teasingly smirked at her.

“No.” El shook her head, softly giggling. "You're stuck with me.” She then looked away, her smile faltering. "Mike.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Mike swallowed, as he absentmindedly rubbed circles over her back with his thumb. “I’ve been so caught up with everything lately at school and work that I haven’t made much time for us and I hate it.”

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“No.” he immediately shook his head. “You shouldn’t have to. I’ve decided I’m gonna drop tutoring.”

“But Mike, you need that for college.” El’s eyes widened with shock. “You can’t do that. I won’t let you.” she pressed, her tone turning strict.

“It’s fine, I’ve got two years of tutoring to put on my applications.” He reassured her, waving off the matter. “If those colleges don’t accept me then that’s on them.” He then beamed at her, his eyes looking back at hers excitedly. “I know this is slightly off topic, but how do you feel about Italian this Saturday? I don’t know about you but I’ve kind of been craving pasta all week.”

El didn’t even bother to answer his question instead leaning forward to kiss him.

Mike broke away. “So I’m guessing it’s a date.” he smiled crookedly.

El smiled back. She then threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down to meet her lips once again. His lips were chapped and cold against hers but she knew they wouldn’t be for long as she began to deepen their kiss.

His hands fell from where they were on her back and slid down until he found her waist. She hoisted herself onto his lap, not once breaking her mouth from his in the process.

“HEY YOU TWO!” a boisterous voice barked. “BREAK IT UP AND GET TO CLASS!”

El and Mike immediately scrambled away from each other, not daring to look their principal in the eye.

“Michael Wheeler.” the older man stilled, pulling his glasses down to peek over them. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the report I received back from Miss Altendorf.”

“Uh, is it bad?”

“Let me put it this way.” Principal Craig exhaled, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “My office, now.”

El cringed, feeling bad she got him into trouble. 'Sorry.' she mouthed at him.

Mike glanced at her with a small smirk. "Call me tonight." he mouthed back, making the phone gesture with his hand before he turned back to follow Mr. Craig towards the school.

El watched as they walked off before she plopped back onto the bench with a dreamy sigh.

She sat there for a moment just staring up into the sky as she relished in the conversation they just had.

She felt like she was fourteen again, feeling so giddy and full of joy. Her heart even beating so hard, she'd swear it was audible.

"Just the thought of Mike made her break into a huge smile. He was incredible, he was genuine, he was hers.

Wow, and she was so absolutely head over heels in love with him

She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Mark her words, one day..

Yes, one day..

She'd marry that boy.